


The Deliverer

by ToastyDehmer



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: #BLGiftExchange2019, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Good Dad Jack, Kinda?, M/M, NOT HOLIDAY THEMED, Supernatural Beings, Vault Monster/Eridian Character, of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21924946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToastyDehmer/pseuds/ToastyDehmer
Summary: Jack just wants to make things right. Because he screwed up. He finally gets that.
Relationships: Handsome Jack/Timothy Lawrence
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	The Deliverer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [razzlin_dazzlin_beez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/razzlin_dazzlin_beez/gifts).



> My piece for the 2019 Secret Santa from the Rhack Hive Discord server! Hope you like it, Beezle! It's got Jackothy, Vault Monster/Eridian Character (kinda), Supernatural Beings (-wavey hand- comes with the nature of the character), and the setting took inspiration from one of the other prompt ideas - Pirate/Siren AU.
> 
> I'd like to thank

Why this planet? Why a planet so drowned that only a dismal 13% of its surface was dry land, the rest submerged in endless seas? Jack wasn’t interested in the honest to god answer. No, he just wanted to give the Eridian who thought this was a good idea a solid whack with a bullet or two because being surrounded by that much water while inside a tiny ass submarine was uncomfortable.

No. Jack _was not_ afraid of a lil- what the hell would it even be called? He definitely didn’t know off the top of his friggin head. Point still stood that he wasn’t afraid. Not even as he stared down the dark depths ahead of him with a scowl while he stood next to the one navigating their little craft through the water. Timothy shifted nervously in his seat, hands on the controls and eyes always out the glass but ever conscious of when Jack’s mood had turned dour. Sometimes Timothy just had too keen of an eye when concerning Jack’s temperament.

When the moment had turned into a minute and a minute into five, Jack finally broke the silence between them.

“Spit it out already, Tim,” he grumbled and crossed his arms.

“Can we really trust this ‘Zane’ guy?” Timothy hurriedly spilled as if he had been near bursting from keeping the words from leaking in the first place. Not that his worry wasn’t justified. Zane was an unknown. There was plenty to know about him but his motives for agreeing to the original gig in the first place? Jack had expected the seasoned fighter to turn the offer down. Imagine his surprise when the dude had giddily accepted.

Jack tried to hide his own suspicions behind a shrug.

“Angel said she liked him.”

“...She’s only sixteen,” Timothy gently reminded. As if Jack didn’t already know that. “You can’t always let her decide.”

“If she’s happy then-”

“Jack…”

He knew. Jack wasn’t blind. A father shouldn’t always give in so easily but...he just wanted his baby girl to smile again. Really smile. Not that strong act she would put on for her father. Or the glum grin she would wear on her own. Jack hadn’t seen an honest smile out of his girl since his wife- since her mother- since Angel…

Jack sighed and let the silence hang about them. He didn’t need to explain any of this to Tim. His lover already knew Jack’s thoughts like the back of his own head. Probably knew them better than Jack did himself at this point.

He was thankful when Timothy let that particular subject down.

“What about Moze?” Timothy quietly asked.

“ _Really_ liked that chick’s Iron Bear,” Jack returned with a chuckle. Timothy softly laughed.

“Of course she did.” He was quiet again for a few moments. Jack could just barely hear Aurelia, Moze, and Zane chattering in the back through the partitioning door. The ship hummed a delicate sound as they sluiced through the water. The lights of the ship scoured before them for anything and everything and Jack kept his eyes open for the telltale marker of their destination. But of course the peace would never last long, not with the cloud hanging over them. Again. “You know her depression isn’t your-”

“There,” Jack interrupted. He pointed at the first sign of their goal. A set of water-filled caves, each opening leading somewhere different. “Take the furthermost bottom left path.”

“...Right.” Timothy smoothly directed the ship to the correct passage. “Should I keep my eyes out for any enemies? Maybe underwater creatures like those slug things we ran into an hour ago?”

Jack snorted. “Look at the cave walls.”

He watched from the corner of his eyes as Timothy hesitated before doing as Jack said. And he waited for the doppleganger’s eyes to widen in realization because-

“Is that- the walls- are they made of- I-”

“Pure, raw eridium?” The further depths of the tunnel were dark and not even any of the ship’s tech could pick up on any movement ahead. Jack didn’t trust it. “Yeah. We don’t gotta worry about a thing.”

“No shit. I’m surprised the ship’s navigational systems aren’t on the fritz.”

“New upgrade Angel designed. Keeps anything safe from Eridium poisoning.”

“...How new we talking?”

Jack scratched the side of his nose as he answered, “...about a couple days new.”

“Are you kidding me?” A sigh. “So we’re the ginny pigs.”

“Yeup,” Jack said, giving an unnecessary pop to the ‘p’.

“Great.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Give her some credit. You trust her, right?”

Aghast, Timothy quickly snapped back, “Of course I do! But nobody’s perfect, Jack. Not even a genius like Angel.”

Jack winced and kept his response safely tucked behind his teeth. Another sigh from Timothy. Normally, things between them weren’t so tense but there was a lot riding on this job of theirs.

“So...this ‘Vault of the Deliverer’,” Timothy asked, again being the one to broach the quiet between them. “What should we be expecting? Anything like the Sentinel?”

“For once, I don’t really know, Timtams,” Jack tiredly returned. The nickname did it’s job in bringing a smile back to Timothy’s face. Good. Least he can do that for his sweetheart. “The Sentinel, we were running off scraps of info from Zarpebitch’s forces. The Warrior… I learned about that from that _thing_ in the Vault of the Sentinel. I went on this one blind. You know why I’m still going after it though.”

“‘The Deliverer is said to be able to grant anyone’s wish’, right?” Jack nodded. “...Is it gonna be a pain in the ass to reach?”

“Isn’t it always?” Jack grumbled. The controls creaked where Timothy’s hands tightened, his knuckles turning white. Jack planted one arm on top of the back of Timothy’s chair and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to the top of his head.

“We’ll make it,” he gently reassured. “We got this, Timtams.”

Timothy’s hands relaxed. Jack loved the smile that brought to Tim’s lips more than any other smile he had seen from him so far that trying day.

* * *

Guardians don’t bleed. They aren’t fleshy or soft like a human and they don’t scream in pain like a human would either. In spite of that, lodging an extra bullet in one of their stupid friggin skulls was almost too satisfying for Jack. He pushed his foot off of the corpse and watched it sag to the side, body moving and falling still just as quickly.

“I would ask if that was necessary,” Aurelia asked from somewhere behind him, annoyance running a clear line through the words. “But at this point I think my patience with these so called ‘Guardians’ has run just as thin as your’s, Jack.”

Footsteps approached Jack and he looked over his shoulder. Timothy glanced back and stopped at Jack’s side, a hand on his boss and boyfriend's shoulder.

“You good?” Timothy quietly questioned. “I saw one of them caught you with a solid whack with one of their spears.”

“I’m fine.” Jack turned and eyed the burn mark on Timothy’s left side, the clothing black but still solid at the very least. He met Timothy’s gaze with veiled concern. “You?”

Timothy smiled, lightly squeezed Jack’s shoulder, and shrugged. “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”

Guilt clouded Jack’s eyes, even more so when he realized his lover was keeping his other arm close to his injured side.

“As soon as we’re done here, we all go get a vacation asap. You, me, and Angel.”

“Oh god that sounds amazing,” Timothy groaned. Jack chuckled.

“I’m sure it does, sweetheart.” Clearing his throat and facing the Vault Hunters behind them, Jack called out, “Status?”

“I’m quite alright,” Aureliad answered. Still looked perfectly put together except for a single strand of hair out of place on her forehead.

“Iron Bear’s still ready to chew up whatever’s next,” Moze replied, tapping her knuckles against her mech before Iron Bear disappeared for the time being. Moze herself didn’t seem any more or less covered in grime and oil than before.

No answer from Zane.

Jack peered around the cave. With how low the light was, it sucked trying to find anything that wasn’t moving and Jack really hoped he didn’t have a dead Vault Hunter on his hands. He would rather deal with another one of his shenanigans. Like say using the scant light from the luminous algae covering the ceiling to hide in plain sight and pop out like an idiot. Just like the Guardians had earlier.

They hadn’t seen them until those assholes were right on top of Jack and his group. Somewhat literally.

“Zane!” Timothy called out.

“Aye! Over here!” Jack looked further down the cave. Came from the direction they were supposed to be heading. “Think I found something!”

“Oh, what now,” Jack grumbled under his breath while he led the way to wherever Zane was. He rounded the corner, took a few steps in, and made a dead stop to take in the view because god _damn_ was it one hell of a sight to see.

The cave they had traversed so far had been made rough, raw eridium hidden behind a thin layer of dense rock, the walls constantly damp and slick and the floor covered by a thick layer of soft blue, red, and purple mosses. Primitive with no signs of any Eridian influence outside of the pillars where the Guardians materialized. Where that had been crude creation, this one spacious room was elegant, somewhat abstract artistry.

The path led out onto a rectangular platform of polished Opallium, the veins of the luminescent stone streaking through the dark, nearly coal black rock and shifting through an array of pale blues and purples, streaks of aqua greens sometimes making an appearance. Around the platform was a pool of water so dark and so impossibly still it couldn’t be natural. It absorbed whatever light hit it and gave nothing back and it stretched on around the platform, nearly triple the size of it. The platform itself was large enough to land one of Hyperion’s freighters. The entire room though was wide and long enough to house around half the size of the Eye of Helios - give or take a few tons. And if that didn’t make Jack feel small, then the walls and ceiling would have done it.

The walls glimmered in the distance, shimmering with the colors the Opallium gave off and reflected them all back with a purple hue. Even at that far of a distance, Jack could easily tell the walls were much the same as the cave walls underwater had been. Eridium. Again. They led up and up and _up_ to the ceiling high above them.

The anxiety Jack had felt back on the ship returned with a vengeance as he finally looked up.

There was no rock, no stone, no crystal. Water. It was held suspended high above like a glass pane was separating Jack and his team from certain death by drowning. Only just barely could Jack see the light from the sun hundreds of feet above them. The scant light illuminated the dark shapes that flitted through the water, sea creatures they had gone by before or heard of or Jack had seen in his research and search of the Vault of the Deliverer. Faint rays of light were casted down on them, so faint they didn’t even reach the ground Jack stood on. But what light the Opallium gave off was bounced around off the sheen surface of water. It lit up the cave with those colors and gave the space a sense of an aura constantly gleaming in and out in front of his eyes.

With the way it was shaped and how the lighting casted the area, it felt less like a cave or Vault entrance and more like a cathedral. It was the sort of feeling it gave Jack. 

“Oi!” Zane’s yell drew Jack’s attention back to their goal though the sheer awe and newfound humbleness persisted. “Over here!”

Jack shook himself and led the group down the cobble steps and onto the platform. Aurelia, Moze, and Timothy all followed a step behind, taking a moment longer to gape at their newest surroundings. The light faintly played along their clothes and skin, shifting and changing with each step.

“Think I found where yer key goes,” Zane stated with a jerk of his head when Jack drew nearer. Jack looked down where Zane had gestured. Just in front of their feet was an indentation in the floor. And it was completely dark. After a moment, Jack registered that it wasn’t empty. It was filled with water. The same water that surrounded them.

“How are you sure that’s it when neither of us can see through that murky bullshit,” Jack demanded. Zane crossed his arms and levelled Jack with an annoyed and exasperated look.

“Do you see _anywhere else_ a key could go,” he deadpanned with a wave of an arm.

Jack narrowed his eyes, grinding his teeth while glaring at the old man.

“Jack.” Timothy came up to Jack’s other side and the CEO was surprised to find his lover’s eyes worried, his frame tense, and his attention on their surroundings. “I don’t like this.”

Now that made Jack pause. He blinked owlishly a couple times before asking, “What do you mean?”

A sigh, then, “I know we’re going in to fight a Vault monster but this feeling I’ve got is...different. There’s something off about this place. With the water.”

“It’s a _Vault_ , Timothy,” Jack breezily brushed off Timothy’s concerns. “Of course it’s going to be a shitshow and of course it’s gonna throw some weird crap at us-”

“ _Jack._ ” Tim had placed his hand back on Jack’s shoulders and this time the look he gave Jack was pleading. Jack paused and took the time to really take both it and Timothy’s words in. He glanced at the body of water surrounding him, listened to the unnatural silence of the room.

“Alright, we’ll make this quick as we can, okay babe?”

Timothy smiled and nodded.

“That is still so weird to see.”

Both Tim and Jack looked back over at Zane, though Jack glowered and Timothy’s cheeks flushed.

“I ain’t paying you to be the peanut gallery, idiot,” Jack snarled back. “I’m paying you for this job and then for you to keep your mouth shut once this is over.”

“Aye, and for the bodyguard gig - which you _still_ haven’t told me who I’ll be protecting after this.” Zane crossed his arms, his one eye narrowing.

“Something you’ll find out if you live once I’ve got what I want from the Vault. Consider it a test of your mettle or whatever.” Jack waved a hand at Zane, a clear dismissal. “Now back off and make sure you’re ready along with your buddy Moze. Things are going to get messy real as soon as I put the key in.”

“Right-y ‘o!” Zane gave Jack a two fingered salute before turning on his heels and walking over to Moze. Jack kept his glare on the geezer’s back until it was just him and Timothy.

“We’ve got this, Jack,” Timothy reassured Jack, echoing the CEO's own words from the ship earlier. A little bit of the tension that had started growing since they left the damn ship pulled back. Jack gave a heavy sigh and turned back to where the key was supposed to go.

“Damn right we do.”

Jack kneeled down in front of the bowl of water and dug out a canister from his coat that held the key. Through the glass of the canister, Jack eyed the oddest Vault key he had ever seen.

Two glowing little orbs were stuck in orbit around each other and no force Jack had used or had his scientists use was able to pull them even the slightest amount apart. Bright white, smaller than a golf ball, and without any heat or ice, Jack hadn’t thought it was the real thing for a long while. Not until he had found the clue in Eridian writing that the key to the Vault of the Deliverer was a pair of shooting stars.

Jack didn’t know whether to consider it ironic that 'shooting stars' were the key to a Vault that granted wishes or put it down as all too literal.

“I hope you’re all ready,” Jack called over his shoulders to his group of hired guns. He opened the canister and slowly tipped it over. “Shit’s about to start.”

The key fell in with a heavy plop. It was disturbing the see something so bright disappear beneath a water that shouldn’t have been able to hide all that light. Less than half a second of it going in, Jack couldn’t see the damn things anymore.

At first, there was nothing. Confused, Jack stood up and shared a look with Timothy. Was he wrong? Did Jack fail? Fear began to send icy tendrils through Jack’s heart. And when something finally did happen, it didn’t get any better. Rather, it got worse.

A wave of darkness spread from the indentation and out through the rest of the platform, Opallium going pitch dark before instantly lighting back up again in a growing circle. The ground shook beneath their feet with each wave that came out. One. Two. Five. Ten. At thirteen the shaking stopped and the last circle hit the edges of the platform. And then silence.

Jack looked around him, listening for anything. But there was nothing. Yet something in his hindbrain told Jack that complete silence right after something like that was very, very, _very_ wrong. He looked around him, squinting through the dark of the far reaches of the room.

He found what was wrong the same moment Timothy anxiously said, “Jack…”

The water around them wasn’t sloshing about after those small quakes like it should. It was deathly still.

“I know, Timothy,” Jack quietly responded. “I know.”

Footsteps came closer and, “Jack. This isn’t anything like Elpis.” Aurelia, quiet, wary, and Jack would wager a little scared. “What’s going on with that bloody key of your’s? Why isn’t the Vault opening?”

“Well you see, sweetcheeks,” Jack started replying through his teeth. His hand inched towards his pistol, his eyes stuck on one thing. “Normally when you open a Vault, there’s something to fight before the entrance reveals itself. And I’m just gonna take a wild guess here and say-”

Jack took out his pistol and next to him, Timothy quickly caught on, eyes on the same thing Jack was aiming at.

A set of eerie, glowing purple eyes was watching them all from afar. Even as Jack had spoken, more slowly rose from the water without making a sound or creating a single ripple in the water. More were appearing all around them from the body of dark water.

“-those things are it.”

“What in the hell are-”

Jack ignored her.

“Moze! Take center position with your Bear! Zane, you’re with me on the left flank. Timothy, Aurelia, take the right. Find a weakness, relay it to the rest of us when you do, and most of all don’t fucking die. I’ll take it out of everyone else's god damned paychecks!”

There were four sets of affirmations as everyone went into position. Jack moved out of the way of Moze's Iron Bear and soon had Zane standing at the ready right next to him. Both of the men had their guns out and ready as even more of whatever those things revealed themselves.

"Remind me again what you've got at the ready?" Jack hummed to Zane without turning his attention away from the growing threat.

"Barrier, me little drone, or a digiclone," Zane dutifully began to reply. "I can only use two of 'em at a time but if I do, I ain't gonna have enough power to use any grenades.”

“What? Why?!” That was bullshit to hear. But as the room came to a standstill, Jack rethought that. Grenades? In that tight of quarters? Unless they were good crowd control, they’d be more trouble than worth using. “Not that that’s a bad thing right now but still curious why.”

“Eeehhh, little hodgepog of my own making lets me use my grenade module as a battery of sorts for me clone. Or drone. Ooooor barrier. Either or.”

“Jack.” Jack turned his head slightly, giving Timothy his ear. “What now? They aren’t making a move to attack. They’re just….sitting there.”

And that was the thing. Jack didn’t know. The other Vaults he had a hand in opening, the monsters always struck first. There was no waiting. There was no quiet and no absence of movement or chaos. But out of all of them, Jack was the one with the most experience with a Vault.

In his ear, his com came to life with Moze’s question of, “Orders, sir?”

What to do, what to do, what to do. If there was a chance to get past all these- _things_ without endangering Timothy or the others, Jack wanted to take it. They were all still worn from the endless waves of Guardians just earlier. Over three hours of non-stop killing those bastards when there had never been that many protecting a single Vault before. Then again, none of those Vaults held something with the possibility to bend reality as a person pleased. Jack reckoned having this much protection for that kind of thing was valid.

But that still didn’t answer the question of _what the everloving fuck to do._

“I have had enough waiting!” Aurelia suddenly barked. “Just shoot the damn things!”

“Aurelia-!”

A single shot and the gates of hell broke loose with a thousand echoing screams.

Instead of talking, gunfire filled the air around them. In a place so confined, so big, every single sound bounced around and painfully smacked Jack’s ears. Too loud. Too sharp. The screams that came from whatever those things were was high like the whining of an engine or the buzz from lights that could drive a person mad. He couldn’t stand them.

But nothing was shutting them up.

These things tore through the water with deadly efficiency, sending the unnatural liquid flying but as soon as they came out of the water, they were slower than molasses. Which in any other circumstance probably wouldn’t be an issue. But there were hundreds of these things, probably thousands crawling out of the water and creeping ever closer. And they weren’t stopping no matter how many bullets went through their skulls or rib cages or arms or legs or _anything._

“What the hell are these things?!?” Zane yelled from Jack’s side. “Zombies!?”

“Pretty sure zombies die after having their brains busted,” Jack sassed back, falling back on jokes. “So I'm gonna go ahead here and say sadly not!”

“Not funny, Jack!” Timothy easily rebuked from the other side of the mech.

They were drawing closer. The bodies were so tightly packed together that Jack couldn’t even see the water past them. He could only hear it sloshing as more and more bodies piled on to the platform. And as they shuffled over the glowing veins of Opallium, Jack finally got a proper look at those abominations.

Their waxen flesh hung on their bodies, looking more like coats than skin. And yet it was puffy, almost bloated like their skin had soaked up the water. It left them gaunt in their features like starved skags but swelled as if they were riddled with bruises. Their arms and legs were long and ungainly. When one reached towards them Jack noticed they had a thin membrane of webbing between each finger. And if none of that was disturbing enough, their faces easily took the cake.

Dried up. Shiny. Lipless mouths gaping wide with sharp, pointed teeth in sight. Some had hair, thin scraggly black hairs that hung from their skull in patches long or short. Some were bald with disturbing folds on their heads. But their eyes were ominous glowing purple pits.

These things looked...demented.

“Sir, nothing’s working on these things!”

Jack quickly reloaded his pistol and commanded, “Tell me what you’ve got.”

“Everything everyone’s been using so far hasn’t had an effect,” Moze began to relay. “Iron Bear does fire and from what I’ve seen so far that, shock, corrosive, and explosive haven’t done a damn thing. It pushes them back but they come right back!”

“Have you tried using cryo?” Aurelia asked and Jack was stumped at how she could sound like this was a leisurely stroll through the park. “It seems to work perfectly.”

Jack paused.

...What?

“What the hell do you mean, Aurelia.”

“I’ve been using my delightful sniper here to freeze these monstrosities from afar. I’m surprised none of you have noticed yet.”

“And you only thought to tell everyone else **_now!?_ **”

“These things hate ice?” Zane yelled over the noise. “I’ll need some cover! I’ve got an idea!”

“It better be good,” Jack growled. Nonetheless Jack moved closer to the center of their flank, digistructed another pistol from his storage case, and laid cover fire for Zane.

“Jack, sir, Iron Bear’s about to run out of fuel.” As Moze said this, the shield her Bear offered flickered before disappearing altogether. If Jack recalled correctly (and he always did) that meant they had less than a minute before their biggest deterrent was gone for about ten minutes. Shit. And those things were drawing closer every moment.

It was really shitty luck that Jack hadn’t brought his favorite cryo SMG to the fight. Dammit. Sucked even more that his wrist lasers would only fry those fuckers. Not to mention it would take a minute or two to digistruct them.

Jack’s internal bemoaning was interrupted by two very familiar (if distorted) voices.

“What did you get yourself into this ti- FRIGGIN’ HELL!”  
“Heya Timmy! Hope you didn’t miss us- what did you do.”

Jack groaned.

“Those things?!” He glared over his shoulder for half a second and he indeed found Timothy had summoned ‘those things’. Namely the digiclones the dork had gotten close. They were annoying as hell and Jack had come to hate them, blue glow and all.

No, he wasn’t jealous.

“Hey!” they both shouted back at him.

“Yes, _them_!” Timothy responded. “Thing One, you cover Moze when her Bear runs out of fuel. Thing Two, go help Jack!”

“Oh god, there’s more of ye now!?”

“Shut up and _hurry_ up, Zane!” Jack growled without even looking.

“Aye-aye!” And he probably did it with an actual salute. God damn sometimes it felt like Jack was working with children.

A blue digiclone appeared on Jack’s left and he looked over with narrowed eyes while he reloaded his pistols. The digiclone disdainfully glared back.

“Still hate you,” Jack grumbled.

“Feeling’s mutual, _boss_ ,” Thing Two cheekily replied with a smirk. And then they went on to slow down their enemies as much as they possibly could. Jack didn’t have any cryo, he knew Timothy didn’t have anything either, and he knew the clones were only capable of firing explosive lasers. From what he had Moze tell him of her mech, the Bear was outfitted with mostly incendiary weaponry too. That left Aurelia and whatever bright idea Zane was cooking up. At this point, Jack honestly hoped Zane pulled through because after everything that happened on Elpis, Jack knew the baroness wouldn’t be able to handle these numbers all on her own.

“Iron Bear’s going down in T-minus fifteen seconds!” Moze called through the comms. Jack could hear the mech’s fire rate slowing down. Not good.

“Thing One’s got your back!” Timothy reassured her.

“Aurelia!” Jack yelled. “How long until your diadem is back?”

"Three minutes!"

They were creeping ever closer and Jack easily put the distance down as less than five meters. They couldn't see the cave they came from anymore. Shit.

"Uh, Jack?" Timothy's voice wavered, fear threading through each syllable. Moze hopped into place on Jack's right and everyone pulled closer to where Zane was still huddled in the middle. "We're gonna get overrun!"

"No we're not!" As Zane yelled this, something appeared in front of Jack and he bit back the startled yelp. Zane's domed Barrier. "I've got ya covered! For about the last few minutes I need! Moze, hand me yer grenade mod."

"Why?"

Jack wondered why she didn't seem as surprised about this as Jack would've thought she'd be.

"No time to explain, just hand it over!"

"Fine."

The sound of something being passed was barely heard over the sudden crescendo of the creatures' screams and Jack looked closer, he easily saw what happened.

Every time one of them touched Zane's barriers, the little bastards were getting electrocuted. Jack watched nearly gobsmacked as one after the other was stalled by the barrier. Jack was even more surprised by the vitality he could feel coming back to him, energy he thought had been spent surging beneath his skin. He looked up and around the barrier, seeing it wrap around the group perfectly.

"Before ye ask," Zane called out. "The electric bit is some tech….'inspired' by Maliwan and the heal-y part was borrowed during a job against Pangolin. And by 'borrowed' I mean I swiped some random doodad off a desk while hightailing it out of there, alarms and armed guards and all! Ah, memories."

Jack wouldn't admit it in a thousand years but he was colored impressed.

"That's fine and dandy but how long until your plan is up and ready?"

"Right aboooouuuut…" Suddenly Zane was back at Jack's side. Jack barely caught the self-satisfied grin before his attention was taken by whatever Zane threw into the air. "Now. Do me a favor and find a target, ya goober!"

"What!?" He better not have meant-

"Not you!" Zane pointed at something. "That."

Jack turned just in time to see something that made his jaw drop for the half second he allowed it to.

The gleam of Zane's drone was just barely visible in the dark of the cavern and the screaming drowned out it's own sound. It was hard to track. What was easy to see though was the grenade it dropped on the mobs.

Whatever mod the thing was using was fantastic at what it did.

The moment it dropped, it spawned several purple orbs that floated out in a single direction. Whatever they touched immediately froze over before outright shattering, the orb disappearing after hitting a target. Each time the grenade bounced, it created a new ring of these things and these grenades bounced _a lot._

Within seconds, a tenth of the room was cleared. No more were coming out of the water.

Jack turned wide eyes on Zane.

The old bastard just grinned back and shrugged.

"Left me favorite mod at home. Didn't think it was necessary this time around. Moze though always carries this burning bastard just in case but she never uses it in close range. A little bit of fiddling with the drone and mod and TA-DAA! Ice grenade instead of fire."

"Freeze, you dirty mongrels!"Aurelia bellowed and Jack knew in that instant she was finally able to activate her diadem. Zane glanced over his shoulder, not bothering to shoot his gun. Not when already another tenth of the room on their side was demolished.

"I think between Ice Queen there, my barrier, and me drone, we'll be fine."

Jack didn't doubt that and he returned his pistols to their respective spots before settling in for the show.

* * *

Going through the gate of a Vault always felt funky to Jack, a little off when compared to going through a fast travel station in the way it felt as if there was no transition. It was more like walking through an open doorway on Helios than being teleported to a pocket dimension. Too easy. Too smooth a transition. It never failed to leave him on edge.

Timothy on the other hand seemed to have no problem with it as he always came out the other side without faltering whatsoever.

As Jack walked down the first length of the Vault, he heard the others slowly trickle in as well.

Moze whistled. Zane giggled like a maniac.

Aurelia was the only one to speak.

"So this is the Vault, hm?" Jack heard her sauntering behind him as he made way down the first few steps. No doubt she was inspecting their far off starry surroundings. If he recalled correctly, she hadn't been inside a Vault since Elpis and this was certainly different than that one. "You know, you never did tell me what's inside this one, dear Jack."

 _'And for good reason,'_ he seethed in his head.

Jack knew he was greedy but this was for someone else. This wasn't for himself. Aurelia though… if he wasn't careful she would steal this from right beneath his nose.

"Guess you'll find out soon enough," Jack instead replied. Timothy trotted up to walk next to him, their shoulders brushing, knuckles touching for brief moments.

"Do you feel that?" Timothy quietly asked.

"What, you're horrible attempt at that 'subtly' you demanded we exercise for once? Never." Jack huffed and grinned, referencing their victory kiss once all of those decrepit monsters had been dealt with. "Love the attention though, Timta-"

"Not that," he hissed. He looked around the Vault when they stopped in the middle of the clearing, the first of them. "Don't you feel like….we're being watched?"

The Vault Hunters around them explored the immediate area for any loot. They were calm and relaxed, fine after dispatching the friggin damned horde. Jack was with them. They beat the monster- er, monsters. What else was there to be wary of?

He blinked.

"No?" Jack really couldn't comprehend why Timothy felt that way. "We fought the things guarding the Vault. That's it. There's nothing else to kill. Nada. Zilch. Zero."

Timothy sighed, forlorn gaze sweeping down and to the side, thumbs rubbing at his wrist. And Jack… he couldn't stand to see his lover down.

"Hey." Jack gently caught Tim's chin with his thumb and tilted his head until he could look into those precious eyes. Timothy looked back at him, nervous, anxious, worried, and afraid all in one breath. "You okay?"

And like the sun peeking around Pandora's berth, Timothy lit up, gaze soft and loving, fond smile full of affection.

"Yeah, I am," Timothy quietly murmured. Jack grinned and leaned in to steal a soft, chaste kiss. Just a simple press of lips and yet it was filled with emotions they couldn't hope to find the words for. Moments they stayed. Moments they loved, freely. But everything had to come to an end sooner or later.

Already preemptively mourning the loss, Jack pulled away with a swipe across Timothy's lower lip, thumb tracing the soft curve. He let his hand fall away.

"You're probably right," Tim hummed. No doubt he was on cloud nine. Romantic sap. But Jack liked that about his boyfriend. He grinned, eyes forward as they walked hand in hand towards the next walkway. "Fretting over nothing again."

Both men paced past the Eridian chests and the Vault Hunters, taking the route between them and onwards to the end of their path.

Up ahead was their prize, the thing Jack sought. Their reward. Their goal. Jack looked before them and from the end platform, traced his eyes down the walkway, over the seemingly endless carvings, murals dozens of meters long. Their shoes walked over each depicted story, a grand total of five.

The first four… from what Jack could tell were tales of heroes? Maybe? No words made it an interesting game of pictograph.

First was a figure starting in the ruined...ashes? Yeah ashes. Ruined ashes of what looked like a house. Perhaps a town. From the smoke they rose with a spear in hand and stood before a Vault gate. The last image was of them standing in what was likely an entirely new village, a crown above their head.

The other three continued on in the same pattern.

One stood tall with a book, people before them bowing.

Another with a great machine of their creation.

And another with nothing but a light in their cupped palms.

They were all different. They started differently and ended differently. But there was one common depiction they all shared. Their arrival at a Vault. The Vault? The Vault of the Deliverer?

Another thing they shared was a seemingly happy ending and Jack's heart ached, hope an old broken creature in his chest that was determined to stay alive for Angel.

But the last set of carvings… the fifth and final one left Jack with an air of foreboding.

It started similarly.

A person in a state of woe, down on their luck, fate taking a piss on them, whatever. They stood. They found the Vault. And then… from one silhouette to the next, they morphed. Disfigured. Unnatural. Horrifying. And it wasn't just one.

The last image showed a legion of these things with the one in the front sporting glowing purple gems for eyes.

Those… creature. From earlier. This mural had to be of them. But what did it mean? And how did it relate to the other four? How did all five of them relate to the Vault of the Deliverer?

Jack only let his footsteps falter for half a second. He tore his gaze away. It didn't matter. He'd find out sooner or later if it was an issue.

Jack and Timothy paused at the base of the small set of stairs leading up to the circular platform. Together they peered up at it.

Timothy took a deep breath in.

"You go."

Jack nearly choked on air.

"Excuse me?" He turned his bewildered glare on Timothy but was met with an unmoving wall.

"Angel is… she's your daughter."

Jack whirled, standing in front of Timothy, voice deploring.

"You know she considers you her Dad just as much as she does me." Jack jabbed a finger in the center of Timothy's chest. "We do this together to the end. _We said we would_."

Nothing.

"Timtams…"

Timothy… damn him. _Damn him and his gentle soul._ Timothy didn't flinch. He didn't even pay any mind to the anger Jack wore as a mask with pitiful familiarity. Gentle hands held Jack's. Gentle hands tugged them up. Gentle hands kept them still in a tender hold, loving lips pressing the sweetest of forgiving kisses on Jack's scarred knuckles.

Damn him. For Jack was buckling to Timothy's whims before the other even moved, guilt an even more familiar companion than his anger these years.

"You need this more than I do, handsome." Soft words that killed and healed in the same precious heartbeat. The tension left Jack with a sigh, shoulders sagging, pinched brows smoothing, tight lips loosening. But he didn't smile. Didn't respond.

Timothy let go of Jack's hand. It fell to his side. Mismatched eyes dropped down to the floor. Jack nodded, turned around, heavy feet reluctantly trailing up the few steps, alone. He reached the top and paused, glanced over his shoulder.

'You sure?' he wanted to ask. 'Still got a chance, Timtams.'

But Jack knew the answer. He kept his words to himself.

One last step. That's all. One last step and he had the chance to make his daughter happy again. One last step.

One last chance to make things right. For the better.

Standing on the platform with both feet felt underwhelming. More so when he stood in the center and nothing happened. Confused, Jack looked at the space around him. Twinkling stars that could be a scene from somewhere real or a beautiful simulacrum glittered back like gleaming jewels. All around him the simulated view of some galaxy was still. Still and quiet. He turned this way and that, looking for a sign, that sense of foreboding growing stronger the longer he examined his surroundings.

There was a ripple. It travelled from what had to be the edge of the pocket dimension and quickly disappeared beneath Jack's feet, heading further for the original entrance. A ripple that disrupted the perfect mirrored image of the stars above. A ripple in the dark, fathomless, _unnatural water that filled half of the Vault._ The same water from before.

Jack looked behind him and found Timothy. He knew the skin around his mask was sheet white, whiter than the fake skin of the mask itself. He knew because they were far from the other Vault Hunters, far from the two who could defend from the enemies before, far from their salvation should more swarm them.

"Tim-"

There was a sound of… _something_ rising from the water. Something big. Fear, primal fear and terror found them both and Jack prayed to a God he never believed in that their deaths were swift. Jack would damn himself if Timothy had to suffer because of Jack's wants and desires.

Timothy's eyes followed the thing behind Jack, gaze going high above the CEO's head.

Great, thunderous, slow breathing washed over Jack. Diminutive. That's what he felt.

"Who disturbs my sleep."

It was everywhere. It was in the water, in the air, in Jack's very mind. And it echoed. The weight of it felt crushing. His body barely listened to him when Jack turned around, moving slowly, moving cautiously.

In that moment, Jack felt very aware of his mortality, mesmerized as he was.

From bottom up he took in this new creature.

The water fed into its body, dark and thick, wet and glittering with reflections of stars. It flowed to and from them, gaining color and solidity before coming anywhere near the height Jack stood before it - which when held up to the whole size wasn't very much at all. The water bloomed with colors from the depths of the ocean above them, blues ranging from space to prussian, navy to royal, full and vibrant despite their dimness before gaining light.

The belly was like that of a snake, scaly and smooth, rounded and soft, the lines between emitting a soft purple glow. The creature was tall, long as a snake would be. But the resemblances ended there.

At the sides of the belly, tendril after silvery blue tendril freely flowed, each one moving and writhing and dancing to a cadence they all adhered to. And they varied so greatly. Some were short, probably only as long as Jack was tall. Some were so long they drooped back to the water, turning dark and dim and losing all color. Some were as thin as a finger and others- Jack distantly wondered if the tree on Eden-6 the Jakob’s famliy used as a vacation home was as large as some of these things were. They covered the creature’s entire body outside of the belly… and everywhere but the face, its ‘hair’ made of those same tendrils but seemingly as fine as baby hair.

Its humanly shaped head stood stories high, far above Jack, peering down at him in a dead neutrality, curiosity glimmering in four white, glowing eyes and one small purple eye on the forehead. It had no lips. It had no nose. Only five eyes. Four white, wide ovular circles, two on either side, all four placed in the general spot one would expect to find them. The purple one though- oblong right smack dab in the middle going from the middle of the forehead to nearly touching the chin. Like an amethyst set into it’s skin. Too perfectly shaped. Too perfectly smooth.

Slowly, that head lowered until the purple eye was level with Jack. Even though the creature had no pupils, had nothing to tell the difference, Jack knew it was looking right at him. And he felt as if it was seeing more than just his appearance. A nervous swallow was forced past the lump in his throat.

“You didn’t answer my question,” it said, its voice seemingly echoing inside Jack’s skull. “Who disturbs my sleep. Answer me before I lose my patience, Handsome Jack, Hyperion CEO, Once-Master of the Warrior, mortal.”

Jack frowned.

“Well, kinda seems like a moot point since you obviously already know who I am,” he answered. The creature watched Jack back emotionlessly.

Finally, it spoke again.

“You know why you come.” Jack noticed it for the statement it was. It rose back to its former height but its eyes stayed locked on Jack. “But be warned. Should you not be careful in what you choose, a fate worse than eternity awaits you.”

He narrowed his eyes. ‘A fate worse than eternity’? What?

“What the hell do you mean?” He crossed his arms in front of his chest and frowned up at the creature’s face.

It stared at Jack, never once blinking.

“Do you know how many have come before you, Jack?” He didn’t know. Jack doubted the number was a lot. It was a Vault. And each Vault would only once every one hundred years. “Take a guess.”

“I dunno,” he replied, rolling his eyes. It felt like he was back in college, faking it to make it. ‘Act like you belong or look like you know what you’re doing and no one will question you’. “Less than ten?”

“Less than ten thousand? Wrong. The answer would be closer to millions.”

His heart stopped. _Millions_ had come to have their wish granted. Jack snarled, fists tightly held at his sides, ready to fight. Out of anger, out of not knowing, out of being unable to understand because _how could millions of wishes be-_

“‘-granted with no one knowing’?” it finished for him. Jack seethed. “Out of all those millions only four were ever granted.”

“Where’s the proof,” Jack demanded. “You could be yankin’ my chain for all I know.”

Their anger was palpable in the air, like a visceral pressure Jack felt on his shoulders, pressing down on him with the force of an entire world. But their voice gave nothing away.

“You already killed a small portion of those pitiful idiots,” it spoke. Behind Jack, Timothy yelped. He whirled around. “But I can always ‘introduce’ you to the rest.”

In the water all around them, purple eyes peeked over the mirror surface. And this time, there were too many to even guess at their numbers. There were…

“Millions….” he realized with an airy wheeze. These things were under the creature’s control. These things could’ve been unleashed on Jack and Timothy and the others at any time. These things were what became of those who entered the Vault of the Deliverer.

Almost...all of them... 

_‘Wait.’_ Jack’s brows furrowed, a thought coming to mind. _‘It said four people had their wishes granted. Four people who didn’t end up like this… What the hell did they wish for? What made the difference?’_

Jack looked down the line of his shoulder back at the bright creature, curious, cautious, wary. Turning to fully face them, he looked up into their eyes unflinchingly, and asked free of fear, “Those four chumps you mentioned. What did they wish for and why didn’t they turn into one of them ugly bastards?”

 _‘What common factor kept them from losing their god damned lives.’_ Jack needed to know because like hell would he come this far only to be turned into someone’s stupid stooge. He had more riding on this than just his livelihood. There was more at stake. So much more.

The creature again regarded him for a moment, silent but ever curious. Jack felt it was the kind of curiosity an exterminator would feel watching a bunch of ants collect food or move about doing seemingly random shit. Cold. Distant. Maybe even mocking. And more than willing to kill them. His fists tightened and loosened in a rhythmic manner at his sides, holding back his ire at the thought.

“The first to come and leave with their life was a simple woman,” the creature began. “She had lost her husband, her children, her friends, her family, her home, her town. She lost them all to war. She came to me wanting so much but knowing I could only do so much. The dead never come back after all. Not truly like the way your kind mimics such a feat.

“Instead she asked for the means to give birth to her town once again and to keep it going strong everlasting. She asked for it as she stated it was what those she had lost would want. So I gave it to her. Her home stands strong to this day.”

The water underneath Jack silently warbled, the man himself unaware of the change.

“The second was a Queen in dire straits. Their people looked to her for guidance but the land was turning against them all. She begged for the knowledge to aid her people, knowledge that would bring them into an age of prosperity and peace. For even with her powers, they were helpless.

“For them, I told her to leave and return in a fortnight. When they returned, I gave them a book with every piece of information she would ever need. This book and the people it was gifted to still persevere today.”

Tendrils formed from the water, clear as could be, see through, nigh invisible. They lengthened and drew upwards unseen towards the platform where Jack stood, listening and impatient.

“The third was a man who came on his death bed, begging for the ability to create something which would forever protect those dear to him. To him I gave blueprints for an artifact that would never die, never break, and never cease in it’s objective. I watched him make it here, in this very Vault before he died, using his last breath to give his creation it’s command. Now it serves to protect the family it was made for, watching over the planet they govern.”

They peeked over the edges, ever silent, ever unnoticed by both Jack and Timothy, the mens’ attention up at the creature that spoke.

“And the final came with a wish to save his planet. Their sun, the people knew, was going to disappear. They had prepared for it but as with everything else you humans make, nothing truly lasts forever. Their artificial sunlight was no longer working for them as it should and this man had chased this Vault in one last hope to change their fate.

“A light, he asked for. A light they could use. A light they needed. A light that would never fail them. So I gave him such a thing. A light they could duplicate with a command without fear of it degrading. A light that was guaranteed to never go out or fade. A light that would never kill so long as it never left the planet. Now that planet is coated in eternal twilight, gifted a commodity their home would otherwise die without.”

They creeped along the floor, circling Jack without ever touching him, laying a trap and waiting. More and more of them joined until the floor of the platform could barely be seen. Only around Jack was it clear. For now.

“Do you understand now, Jack?” the creature asked. “Do you see what makes the difference?”

“Yeah.” There was no doubt in his voice. “I do.”

Even though it had no lips, no nose, and there was no change in it’s features, Jack knew it was frowning down at him. Snarling. And when it spoke again, the sound invoked chills down Jack’s spine.

“I think I’ll be the judge of that.”

Timothy yelled Jack’s name in warning a moment too late as the tendrils jumped into action. They constricted around him tightly and left no room for him to maneuver his way out of them. Around his torso and legs and arms and wrists and fingers and feet they coiled. Jack couldn’t reach his pistol or his pocketwatch or anything else he had on him. He was defenseless. Still, Jack struggled, trying to rip his limbs free.

The creature bowed his head towards Jack again, coming closer and closer until its one purple eye was level with him. This close, Jack could easily see the size difference between him and an eye that was longer than he was tall twice over. The creature moved closer until no more than a foot rested between it and Jack. Purple light that came from it shone on Jack, whitewashing him with the hues.

“What is it that drew you here, Jack,” it spoke. A line drew from the eye, just as purple, just as bright. It came nearer, growing in length and reaching for Jack’s face. He tilted his head back as far as his neck would allow him, straining to stay away. “What made you seek my Vault.”

When it touched, Jack lost sight. He lost hearing. He lost touch. His features blanked, eyes wide and staring up sightlessly, mouth parted and lips slack. Jack could feel it-- _rummaging_ through his mind. He could feel the path it tore through, scouring every memory it touched and found within mere nanoseconds before moving on and finding another even faster.

Jack couldn’t do anything back but he was able to comprehend more of the creature than he possibly could’ve without that experience.

It was large. It could be larger than the universe or smaller than an atom. It could create a new reality just as readily as it could destroy one with less than a thought. It was capable of more than Jack could possibly ever understand but for that single moment it was all excruciatingly clear to him. And it hurt. It hurt having that much knowledge stabbed through his head like a red-hot, lightning-charged pickaxe.

They all thought the Destroyer was terrifying in what it could do? All the Destroyer could do was eat entire galaxies, eat the very existence of the universe.. This thing though, could tear them apart and reshape them into whatever they desired. It could play God without any fear of repercussions. _It had no limits._ What held it back?

Rules it’s creators laid as it had been brought to life.

Rules Jack now knew better than the back of his own hand.

Rules he knew he wouldn’t forget once this was over.

 _‘Recompense,’_ it succinctly explained from within Jack’s head.

The creature withdrew. Completely. Agony coursed along Jack’s limbs, wave after wave of pain brought on entire bodily spasms, seizures. He could barely force himself to breathe the choppy, tiny breaths he stole from the air.

“JACK!” Timothy. It was Timothy’s warm hands and strong arms that pulled Jack’s body up. Arms that cradled him close but loose enough to hurt neither himself or Jack as the spasms continued. Timothy wiped away the drool from the edge of Jack’s lips. Little drops of tears dripped from Timothy’s cheeks. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!”

“What was necessary.”

The sound of a gun being pulled was familiar. Jack wished he could turn his eyes to look and see Timothy. As much as he didn’t want him crying and worrying over himself, Jack was desperate to see the wrath in Timothy’s eyes Jack was sure would be there. But even though the spasms were getting weaker and were taking longer to come between one to the next, Jack still didn’t have control of his body quite yet.

“What. Did. You. Do. Answer me! And I swear to God if he dies, I don’t care i-i-if you’re immortal,” Timothy’s voice dropped to a hiss as he seethed, “I’ll kill you myself.”

“Tim-” Jack choked out. He had to tell him to stop. To put the gun away. That it wasn’t necessary. Jack knew why it had to happen. Most of what knowledge had been pushed onto him had disappeared with the creature’s mental presence but what he needed to know stayed.

Recompense. It was the price the creature had paid to rifle through Jack’s mind. And now knowing what he did, he called it a fair trade. With what it gave him, he knew how to make his wish without getting them all killed. And there’s no way he would’ve been able to get it on his own. Not even with the hints it dropped.

There was more to it than simply asking for a wish.

“OI! THE HELL YOU THINK YER DOIN TO ME EMPLOYER!?”

Jack couldn’t see what was going on but there was the sound of running footsteps coming their way. They were gunning for a fight. Jack had to stop them. If they shot at the creature now, there’d be no saving them. Jack wouldn’t be able to do diddly squat to keep them from being turned into one of those _things._

“Stop-” he hoarsely tried. The spasms were happening less often but it was still enough to keep him from stringing together a simple sentence. Timothy tilted Jack’s head and they looked at each other. “Stand d-.... Down.”

There was confusion written across Timothy’s face. The arm holding the gun sagged down.

“Why? It hurt you! You were screaming!! I thought-...” Anger. Pleading anger. Now that wasn’t something Jack heard often from him anymore.

“Trust me. Please.”

Timothy’s eyes jumped between Jack’s, searching. For what, Jack had no clue.

“Sir?” Moze called. They had come to a stop some meters behind Timothy and Jack. “Orders?”

He must’ve found something because when he looked up and back to them, Timothy commanded in a defeated tone, “Stand down.”

A moment of hesitation and then the sound of guns being put away or lowered. Timothy turned his head back to the creature.

“What did you do,” he demanded.

“I only did what my creators commanded me to.”

Jack watched a frown grace those lips, hard eyes staring down a creature so much bigger than them. Than all of them.

“Explain.”

“The Eridians created me,” it began. Timothy’s eyes practically popped out of his skull. “They created me and cared for me as they would a child. Generations of them teaching me, building me up larger and greater until they had decided I had reached the pinnacle of perfection. They created me and gave me abilities beyond what should be capable. Your entire world, your entire timeline I can bring to a crashing halt with less than a thought. And I can create a new one just as easily.”

“Then _why_ don’t you?” Aurliea asked, coming up to stand next to Timothy and Jack, a sneer on her face and her arms crossed in front of her chest. “I find it hard to believe that anyone or…. any _thing_ could resist becoming a literal God...or Goddess.”

Just as Jack could feel when it was angry, he could feel when it was severely unimpressed, glaring at Aurelia like she was less than a damn cockroach underneath it’s boots. Or tentacles… or whatever.

“I was created. And I was created with rules with which to follow and abide by. The past and the dead are not to be trifled with. Ever. My powers to manipulate reality may only be used to deliver someone’s wish to completion or for my own benign use. There are hundreds more stipulations and amendments but more than anything else, I must only grant wishes to those who are worthy and who have worthy desires.”

A lie of omission. Of course it would leave out the other key part. The part that would make or break someone’s wish.

“Now that sounds like a right load of crock if I’ve ever heard it,” Zane piped up.

The spasms were almost gone. He couldn’t move much outside of his head and his fingers and toes but he knew the paralysis wouldn’t last much longer.

“What…” Timothy looked down at Jack for a moment before looking back up. “What makes a person’s…. ‘desire’ worthy?”

“Selflessness,” it shortly answered. “Free of greed and lust. Born outside of pride or jealousy. Wanted without wrath. Never should a wish be purely for themselves.”

Still omitting the second part, Jack noticed. Slowly he stood up with Timothy’s help. Every so often a tremor would pass through him but for the most part, they were over. As he cautiously stood on knees that threatened to give out, Aurelia spoke again.

“And would I be able to make such a wish?”

Jack stopped moving and glared at the side of her face, eyes wild, fingers itching to pull his pistol on her and shoot. But he didn’t need to worry. The creature’s response was a hiss, laced with venom and distaste.

“I would never deign someone like you with a single chance at my powers. Your heart is cold, pitch black, and filled with nothing but greed for the sake of greed."

She glared at it, eyes narrowed, fingers tight on her arms. Aurelia clicked her tongue and turned around, walking away.

“I suppose I’ve had that one coming for a long time now,” she growled. “I’ll meet you all back at the ship. I can see my services are no longer needed here.”

 _‘Good, riddance,’_ Jack glowered, glaring at her back and watching her go for a few moments. _‘Traitorous bitch.’_

“Indeed.”

Jack quickly looked back at the creature and knew it was agreeing with him. It was still reading his mind? Even now? ...Huh.

"If everything is settled, are you ready to state your wish, Jack?"

Jack nodded and took a step from Timothy's side, legs steadier now that the time had come. He knew what he had to do and what he had to say. What he had to admit, what he had to...come to terms with after this.

Jack had been wrong. So wrong.

"Tell me, what do you wish for?" it calmly asked.

It was better than it could've been, that much he could remember from what the creature had shown him. 

"For the ability to make my daughter happy again, to give her the chance to really smile for once." He met the creature's eyes.

But everything he had came to fix?

"And what costed her such a thing? _Who_ took it from her?"

It was his fault in the first place.

Jack bowed his head. He grit his teeth and fisted his hands. He didn't want to admit the words but… if it meant making his daughter happy again, Jack would do anything.

"I...I did," Jack gave in with a defeated voice. "I didn't give her the freedom she should've had. I kept her hidden. I was- I was scared someone would come take her again. I was scared of losing her. I almost lost her once and-..." Jack bit his lip. His shoulders sagged. Once tall and proud, Jack was the picture of a man filled with regret and hating himself for his mistakes.

It could've been much worse… but he still screwed up.

"Correct," it agreed. "No one can gain anything from me without first having lost something and knowing the exact cost that came from their own making. Those believing they knew better or refused to see their own faults, the Eridians deigned unworthy. The four who succeeded? Everything that happened to them was of their own fault. They had every chance to stop the tragedies before they came. They had the power. But through one way or another, the window of opportunity snapped shut on them, each realizing a moment too late it existed in the first place.

"Had they acted sooner, they would've never needed to come here."

Jack looked up. He already knew all this and knowing that he could've fixed it at any time hurt more than anything he had to endure to get to this point.

"Frankly, your wish isn't as simple to accommodate as I would've hoped," the creature said at length, a sigh following the statement. Doubt worked through Jack. It wouldn't- it would still grant his wish…right?

“What does that mean.” He did his best to hide his worry.

“Don’t you worry your little head over it,” the creature grumbled. “Your wish will be granted in due time. You’ll see it with your own eyes. And for that it to become reality, I have to oversee it myself.”

The creature began leaning forward again. Jack stumbled back a step, wary.

“What-?”

He fell silent, watching as the creature’s body turned back to water from the bottom up, glowing color leeching away. The body lost shape and began to pool on the platform in front of Jack, lurching more and more of it into one singular spot. It was wrong. So much liquid and yet...the blob didn’t grow any bigger. More and more ‘water’ from the Vault around them was pulled in and soon the Vault was emptied of it all.

Jack took another few steps backwards, joining Timothy where he stood. Together they watched the blob take a more solid form. A bowed, hooded head took shape, the face hidden from view. The line of a back. Some edges spreading and thinning out like the creature had a cloth draped over it. Still the black color stayed, the earlier reflection of those stars and galaxies still present as well. And then they rose, elegant and fluid, silver-blue glowing arms coming out from between the folds and drawing back the hood.

Whatever Jack had been expecting, it was not a face that belonged on some Greekos statue.

The inside of the cloak glowed the same color as the creature’s arms, much like the rest of it’s body must as well considering Jack couldn’t see anything to distinguish inner cloak from arms or legs or torso. But the head, the _face._

Pale skin, smooth and unblemished skin that made Jack think of polished marble. Soft lips, thin and dusky pink. An artisan nose expertly crafted. Brown hair that looked feather soft, styled back, a couple short hairs artfully hung from the gentle widow’s peak. Strong eyebrows that accented the exotic eyes - and jesus, _the eyes._

The left eye was a dark brown with bright amber subtly sewn in. But the other? A brilliant, luminescent purple iris ringed a white pupil, black sclera both accenting it and giving the look a haunted, eerie air.

Slowly, the creature came forward with nary a bounce. They seemingly glided over the floor. Jack watched, frozen as they stopped less than a foot from him, eyes roving Jack’s face. Timothy tugged at Jack’s sleeve. The attempt at gaining his attention went in vain.

 _‘They’re-... my height.’_ The thought quietly waded to the forefront of everything else. It was a ridiculous thing to notice. There were hundreds of other things Jack could’ve thought of and _that’s_ what he came up with? Even he’s a little disappointed with himself.

The creature (person? Human? Man?) gave a single slow blink and then turned, fluidly moving around Jack.

“Come,” they murmured and this time, Jack heard their voice as he would any other person’s. In the air. Not in his head. It was an even timbre. A voice that had one wanting to listen closer, to pay attention, to...hear more. And Jack realized something.

It was the first time he heard its actual voice.

Jack turned around, awed gaze meeting Timothy’s worried one before they both watch the creature move away. Zane and Moze both had their eyes glued as well. Moze watched warily, anxiously. She had her assault rifle in her tense hands, knuckles white. She glanced back at Jack. Confirmation. And Jack gave with a shake of his head. Moze released her held breath and lowered the tip of his gun back to point at the floor. Zane though…

Zane was bug-eyed. His mouth had fallen open at some point and he gaped at the creature. And it- it paused before him, head turned, eyes observing, and reached out to gently close Zane’s mouth.

“Better,” it quietly mused before continuing on.

“Handsome Jack, sir?” Moze kept her voice quiet. “Are we... just going to listen to it?”

As Jack looked back at her, he realized-

“I…..”

-he was at a loss of words.

“Are you coming or not?” He looked back at the still creature’s still retreating back. “You want your wish granted, right?”

It paused at the end of the walkway between where the two walls ended, the Vault entrance far-off behind them. It watched them with a raised brow.

“Well?”

Jack took a step forward and paused.

"Before anything else," he started to ask. "What am I gonna call you? 'Deliverer' is a bit of a mouthful."

The creature smiled, a pleased gleam of approval in its eyes.

"Rhys."

**Author's Note:**

> Creatures in beginning were inspired by Inferi/Inferius from the HP universe.
> 
> Yes I know I used three augments for Zane's Barrier but fuck it, I wanted to :P
> 
> Grenade mentioned here is called Epicenter and while it's always fire, I made it ice here instead. Also, yes, some version do bounce. I found one in-game that bounces twice and _I love it._ Tho ngl, I prefer the MIRV Hex grenade mod :3
> 
> Rhys' initial 'form' is completely and utterly based off of [Hevlaska's](https://www.deviantart.com/kikiteblue/art/Hevlaska-384826773) design from D. Gray Man because I loved that show and still do.
> 
> The image of Rhys with his mystical cloak shtick was done by me! You can find the link to the twitter post [here!](https://twitter.com/ToastyDehmer/status/1209275301479567362)
> 
> I had some ideas on where to take this. Probably will add more in the future. For now it's a oneshot! Hope ya'll enjoyed!
> 
> -Toast


End file.
